11 July 2009 In the ANF


We really wanted to take the dogs along for this hike, but were concerned it would be too warm. In the end, they got to hang out in the house while we got wet. It either dripped or rained the entire time we were out. We grabbed a few easy caches thinking we might wait it out. After the easy caches, we headed for the ANF. Before we started hiking, I spotted the baby turkeys. They ran, but not far enough to escape the camera. It was the first time we had seen baby turkeys in the wild.



In the end, we toughed out the rain, put on the waterproof jackets and headed into the woods. The caches sent us into a rocky area with climbing and exploring. It was great. We missed a puzzle cache when we transferred the wrong coordinates to our gps but had a great time with the rest of the caches.

10 July 2009 Frohring Meadows






We stopped to avenge a dnf from Easter. We found the first two stages of a four-stage multi and missed stage 3. THis evening we wanted to see how the prarie flower efforts were proceeding in the second year. Other than small clusters that dot the fields, there were few wildflowers to be seen. We did get muggled by a great looking toad at the third stage.

7 July 2009 A Long Walk in South Chagrin


The 'Other' Side of Squaw Rock

6 July 2009 Geocaching, Ice Cream, and Sunset


Check out the velvet on those antlers. We spotted him just as we were heading into the woods behind the ball fields.

Every year, these are the nicest community gardens we've seen.


A great place to hold hands and remember what's important.







It seems like a combination that works for us. We stopped in Lake County to hunt a couple caches. The second was placed by GoatHaunt in a park next to a favorite ice cream stand. It was good planning on his part. The cache and the ice cream left us just down the road from Osborne Park and sunset. The gliders were full this evening, but we managed to snag a quiet bench and a great sunset.

5 July 2009 Trail Day



It was time to work on the longest trail on our property. Ali wanted to check the orchids to see if there were any spikes this year, but there weren't :-(. While we were out it was time to grab the tools and do a little trail grooming. Ali spotted the nice fossils near one on the stream crossings.

4 July 2009 Chautauqua and Cattaraugus


We planned to visit Cattaraugus County and finish the first half of the Enchanted Mountains Geotrail. Friends stopped by so we started later than planned. The day took a 'let's see which cache is next' path. Our starting point was a dnf along the Conewango River. The Conewango is a really good choice for an easy canoe through a scenic area. This cache is located near one of the drop points.



Our second stop was a park in Frewsburg. We were both a little apprehensive about hitting public parks on the 4th. We expected them to be overrun with muggles. Funny thing about the day was we saw almost no one. It was a little cool for the holiday, but there was still a blue sky that beckoned for a picnic at the park.




We wandered through Cattaraugus eventually finding two of the EMGT caches. One was at a park in Perrsyburg. It's an older park, but has all of the things that parks should have except people.




We closed our day with a return trip to Deer Lick Nature Sanctuary. We found the last caches in the area and walked most of the trails. One of Zoar Valley's many waterfalls is a nice cascade deep in the Nature Sanctuary.

3 July 2009 Eagles












This was the first we had been to PA in over a month. It was the longest we had been away in in over ten years. We celebrated in the usual way with some caching. We were working our way through an older multi and ended up at Union City Reservoir. It is an attractive reservoir. We had a good walk with the dogs. Neither of us had ever noticed the vortex created at a reservoir near the feed for the outlet. It was a sight to see.

We moved from there to a nearby SGL and a new cache for the favorites list. The grey skies that had been with us all day opened up and filled the forest near the cache with sunlight. The nearby stream was quite peaceful. The cache was worth the time to see this great area for the final.

Our last planned stop was to look for eagles at a known nesting area. Another cacher had provided coordinates viewing the nest and a general direction. With the summer growth the nest was well camoflaged. We had given up and were heading back to the vehicle when Ali spotted the first young eagle in a tree overlooking the water. A few minutes later Ali spotted the second one much closer to us.

It was quite a return to Pennsylvania.

2 July 2009 Portage Lake and completing the OSP Challenges









We were down to Portage Lake State Park to finish both of the state park challenges. Ali and GeaugaGarmin started the day without me at Portage. After work I drove down to the park so we could hunt the last five caches together. When we got to the last cache there were lots of cedar waxwings near the cache. I missed a good photo, but they are magnificent birds to watch. A little hopscotch was in order to celebrate the day as was a visit to the local ice cream stand.

Later after GG headed for a dinner party, Ali and I made our way to Sippo Lake in Stark County, It was our first visit to the park.

30 June 2009 Geneva on the Lake

It was Tuesday and time for another Ohio State Park cache. We had heard this was a really simple hide with almost no walking. Within a few minutes we had walked to the cache, signed the log, and returned to the car. Still, it was a perfect evening. Lake Erie looked grand, and we had a short drive home. I said let's go to Geneva on the Lake. Ali reluctantly agreed.

If you need an image of Geneva on the Lake just think of the carny coming to town for the weekend and then only taking the rides when it left. The area has been a resort since 1869. It boasts the oldest miniature golf course in the US. It also has every possible junk food you could want, arcades, souvenir shops, carny games... You get the idea. Before and during WWII it was one of the many places along the Lake Erie shore that had a big band ballroom. By the 70's it was a biker town. Now it's back to being a fun place to wander around. It's only open from Mother's Day to mid-September, so make your plans now if you want to visit the oldest miniature golf course in the US.

28 June 2009 One Sunday - Three Counties - Three State Parks







We were getting tired, but were determined to finish this series. We hoped to finish with GG by the end of the week so today was three counties and three parks. Quail Hollow marked our starting point. Much of the park is a sanctuary to poison ivy so I was happy to see this one come and go. At least a few of the caches were in the wetlands and wooded section of the park. That area is by far the park's best. We enjoyed a couple finds on the trail there.

We left Quail Hollow and made our way to Guilford. Guilford has little land on the outer edge of a lake and doesn't give many opportunities for caches. The 19-park challenge cache could almost be retrieved from the car, but there is a nice little walk in the woods from that parking are and one of the caches in the 5-park series was back there. The last cache we retrieved was near a pedestrian bridge alongside the backside of the dam. It was a nice hide at a place we've never visited in this park. We left the kayak cache for a different day. We've been told, it's a couple of hours of kayaking by persons that are better with paddles than we are. I hope we get the time to return for that before the end of the summer.

Our last stop of the day was at Mosquito Creek. I never had a high opinion of this place when I boated and fished. It was always overrun with too many boats at the docks and too much horsepower on the water. In recent years visiting this place on foot to geocache has given me a different view of what I now consider to be a nice, pleasant park. My memories of this night though are dim. By the time we arrived here, a week of travel and two days of hard caching had wiped me out. Ali was driving and hunting caches by this point. I merely walked along beside her. I remember the early stages of the walk. We had never neen here before and the start of the trail and woods looked nice.